Today: Well, if you haven’t, the groundhog saw his shadow. According to the myth that means 6 more weeks of winter however, the upcoming weather pattern seems to differ. A strong dome of high pressure from the west will keep our skies mostly sunny for Tuesday. This will allow temperatures to rise into the seasonally low 20s for a high temperature in the afternoon. Winds won’t be much of a bother generally between 5-10 mph throughout the day from the northwest.
Overnight: High pressure will start to move south and east Tuesday overnight and into Wednesday morning. Other conditions over the area will see low temperatures in the upper single digits with skies becoming partly cloudy. Winds will be light (around 5 mph) and variable from the north-northwest.
Tomorrow: Wednesday will start with the aforementioned strong dome of high pressure trailing off to the south. What will be pushing this nice weather system away is a strengthening low-pressure system in Canada that is trailing a strong and long warm front which will move through Thursday afternoon. Before this next weather-maker arrives, Wednesday will feature high temperatures in the high 20s for a daytime high with skies becoming mostly sunny and calm winds between 5-10 mph sustained from the northwest. Heading into the evening and overnight, lows will settle into the lower teens with winds remaining constant around 5-10 mph but beginning to turn to the southwest with skies becoming mostly cloudy.
Extended: Over the extended forecast, the Milwaukee area will see an end-of-week warm up before returning to normal February temperatures by the weekend. Thursday and Friday will see high temperatures close to 30 on Thursday and mid-30s for a daytime high on Friday. Furthermore, this temperature swing is all made possible by the low-pressure system that I previewed on Wednesday. This low-pressure system up in Canada will be trailing a long warm and cold front. First, the warm front will swing through Thursday. This will make winds turn to the southwest 5-10 mph sustained most of the day. Also, this front may cause an isolated snow shower (20% chance) by mid-day, but there will be little to no accumulation leaving us with mostly cloudy skies for the rest of the day. By Friday early morning, the cold front will begin to sweep through the area. This cold front will turn winds back to the north with sustained speeds around 15 mph. With the winds whipping, another slight snow chance is possible (40% chance) by Friday mid-morning. Models are very different at this time with this system, so it is too early to tell if there will be any accumulation by Friday afternoon from this weather-maker so stay tuned. Saturday Milwaukee will slip back into a calmer weather pattern with another ridge of high pressure moving from the northwest. Northwest winds will ease to around 5 mph sustained all day, and temperatures will return to a normalcy with highs only reaching the low 20’s by the afternoon with mostly sunny skies.
